The 15th All India Conference of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) is being held in Puri, Odisha from 26th November to 30th November. The 14th Conference was held in Kannur, Kerala in April 2013.2000 delegates including nearly 400 women elected from the State Conferences, in proportion to the membership in state, representing various sectors will attend the Conference.The Conference is being held near Yatrika, close to the Sea beach in Puri.The venue for the delegate conference is being named after Com. Samar Mukherji and the Conference hall is named after Com. R Umanath. Both of these veteran leaders of CITU passed away after the last conference.

Inaugural sessionInaugural Session of the Conference will begin at 10 AM with the hoisting of the CITU flag at the venue.

Conference will be inaugurated by A.K. Padmanabhan, President, CITU. The inaugural session will be addressed by Leaders of other Central Trade Unions. They include Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, President INTUC, Ramender Kumar, President AITUC, Jogendranath Tripathi (HMS), Rajiv Dimri (AICCTU), Sankar Saha (AIUTUC), K.K. Panigrahi (LPF), Devarajan (TUCC), Ashok Ghosh (UTUC) and Monali Shah (SEWA).The Conference is also being attended by a Delegation from World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) led by Divanitton Pereira, Member of the Secretariat of WFTU. CITU is an affiliate of the WFTU.

Mass Rally

A massive procession will begin from the Puri Railway station area by 12 noon on 26th and will culminate in a Mass Rally near Gundicha Mandir. The venue of the rally is named after K.L. Bajaj and S. Prasannakumar who were office bearers elected in the last Conference.The Rally will be addressed by the leaders of CITU and also of the Reception Committee of the Conference.

Delegate SessionThe delegate session will start from 6 PM on 26th and will conclude by 2 PM on 30th.

The report for the Conference will be presented by Tapan Sen, General Secretary and the Accounts will be submitted Ranjana Nirula, Treasurer.The discussions on the Reports will start from 27th morning and will continue upto 28th evening. The discussions will cover various issues, confronting the workers, the struggles conducted during the last 3 years, future programmes and also about the organizational tasks of CITU.On 29th, the delegates will be formed into 3 Commissions to discuss on Communalism, Worker-Peasant Unity and Impact of Neo-liberalism on the working people.

Concluding SessionIn the Concluding Session on 30th November, General Secretary will sum-up the discussions before the reports are adopted.

The new leadership for the next three years will be elected by the delegates.Conference will conclude by 2 PM on that day.

SeminarsThe Reception Committee under the Chairmanship of Jagannath Patnaik, former President, Bar Council of India has been functioning for the last six months. State wide campaigns have been conducted. Seventeen Seminars on various important subjects have been held in different parts of the state and were addressed by various Academicians, Experts and leaders of various Trade Unions.

Three more Seminars on Agrarian Crisis and Migration, Industrial Development of Odisha, and on Tribal issues will be held on 27th to 29th at a separate venue.Cultural programmes will be held in the Beach area in the evenings of 26th to 29th November. The venue for this, is named after veteran leader of CITU from United Andhra Pradesh Com. Parasa Sathya Narayana.